THE violence which boiled over in Lozells would have been far more serious but for the good work of people who worked to ease existing tensions.

Insp Mo Hanif publicly praised members of the community for their part in bringing calm to the streets of Lozells and Handsworth almost three weeks ago.

"If it was not for the community the situation could have been so much worse and may have lasted longer than four hours," said Insp Hanif, of Thornhill Road police station, at last night's ward meeting in Lozells and East Handsworth.

"Without that support, which is still continuing now, we could have been facing a similar situation to what is going on in France at the moment and we could have had 13 days of rioting."

A visiting TV crew from Strasbourg, in France, filmed last night's meeting at King Edward VI Handsworth School to produce their own documentary on how Birmingham is dealing with ethnic tensions.

But residents criticised Handsworth police for not intervening earlier before the tension erupted into rioting.

Some said they lost out on several days' trading because they were forced to shut their shops for up to five days.

But Insp Hanif said the whole event had not been directed towards the police but rather between two communities.

He said: "We tried hard to resolve the issues even up to the last minute."